Short stories by Denis Johnson
Denis Hale Johnson (July 1, 1949 – May 24, 2017) was an American writer best known for his short story collection Jesus' Son (1992) and his novel Tree of Smoke (2007), which won the National Book Award for Fiction. He also wrote plays, poetry, journalism, and non-fiction. Denis Johnson was born on July 1, 1949 in Munich, West Germany.[1] Growing up, he also lived in the Philippines, Japan, and the suburbs of Washington, D.C.[2][3] His father, Alfred Johnson, worked for the State Department as a liaison between the USIA and the CIA.[4][5] His mother, the former Vera Louise Childress, was a homemaker.[1] He earned a B.A. in English (in 1971) from the University of Iowa and an M.F.A. (in 1974) from the Iowa Writers' Workshop,[3] where he also returned to teach.[2] While at the Writers' Workshop, Johnson took classes from Raymond Carver.
Listing 5 stories.
A man working at a home for disabled folks reflects on a day in his life.
A drug-addled hitchhiker takes a ride with a family. Their car gets in a collision, and the hitchhiker wanders around the scene, unwilling and unable to help.
A man works in an emergency room alongside his friend, and they take a concoction of different drugs that blurs the lines between their current shift and their break as well as between reality and fiction.
An aging ad executive reflects through the years in snapshot scenes about his ex-wives, a troubled friend, an awards ceremony, and an unlikely love story.
After the loss of his wife and daughter, a railroad laborer adjusts to life alone in the changing American West.